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The boardwalk runs through the harbor's Portside district, along the town's many and sundry shops and restaurants. A short wall, just high enough to sit on, separates the boardwalk from the sandy beach that stretches down toward the ocean where seashells dot the shore. On one end of the boardwalk is the pier, where boats and ships come and go, including the seasonal Zebra trading caravel. A little ways off in the ocean is a little island with the town lighthouse that winks along at night.

The boardwalk leads back southeast to the town square, and stretches all the way around toward the sand that leads northeast to the residential outskirts. Directly East, along the trotting path through the fields, lie the farms. And of course, there's the ocean, stretching invitingly past the sandy beach.

Lights are hung from the eaves of every building, and wound around every tree. Snow blankets everything the whole place, though the walkways are cleared.

Thump-a thump-a thump-a! Little zebra hooves run down through the snow that's covered the boardwalk as Siyana weaves in and out through the various groups and couples taking their Parade Walk through the town. She seems perfectly content chasing a firefly, rather than pay attention to whatever's going on with other ponies. WHATEVER.

Lavender is weaving through the crowd in a rather slower manner. Watching saddlebags with a covetous eye! If a jealous and sulky one, because apparently she knows better. She walks diagonally across that boardwalk with her eyes up, completely oblivious to the fact that she's walking where the zebra's about to be.

Obliviousness? In MY ponies? It's more likely than you think. Siyana barrels straight into Lavender with a squeal of surprise, bowling over with a thump. "Oof! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" she squeaks, trying to get her hooves under her and failing.

Lavender shrieks and topples head over hooves over back over tail over hooves, and does a couple of barrel rolls before finally coming to rest on her belly with hooves all askew. One might imagine twists and swirls of dizziness over her. She shakes her head a few times, then looks over at the zebra, "Heeeeywatchwhereyergoin!" She huffs, then likewise attempts to get to said hooves. An adult pony steps over her. She drags herself across an icy patch to the zebra.

Siyana gets shakily to her hooves, trying to keep her equillibrium. "Hah— hah— sorry!" she pants again, dipping her head a little. "I was just— there was a firefly! Hey! I think I saw you the other day when I was with my dad! What's your name? I'm Siyana!"

Lavender sits herself up against a snowdrift at the edge of the boardwalk. "I'm Lavender! You gotta be way more careful on the boardwalk here, it's all icy… Hey, did you come in with that big boat out there?" she asks with sudden excitement.

Siyana bounces once and slips and falls on her face again. "Oof! Yes! I am from the caravel!" She does indeed have a slight lilt to her words that speak of, well, native zebradom. "I like your name, Lavender. Did you know there's a flower called Lavender? It's supposed to grow around here but I don't think it can grow with all this snow. It's too cold for flowers."

Lavender blinks a couple of times, looks back at her lavender-colored flank, then back to the zebra filly. "Yeah, I was named for it actually… That's the color my coat is. And it's not cold here all the time!" Tail goes swish, snow sprinkles around a little. "This is just winter. It gets sunny too, there's all kinds of stuff growing. We're just in the middle of the season right now is all."

Siyana scrambles up and skids over to faceplant in the snowdrift next. At least she manages to get up to her hooves this time. "Oh, yes, of course. I see snow all year because we travel so much. Not all the time though! But sometimes. Lots of different places have snow in different times. Do you like snow? I love snow. FIREFLY." The firefly has bobbed back into view, and Siyana's attention rivets to it happily.

Lavender watches the zebra's antics, then turns her head slowly to watch the firefly bob around in all its glowiness. "All the bright lights around and you're chasing a firefly? I mean…I guess the bug's all in the spirit of things." She grins. "Snow's good. It must be kind of weird on a boat though. Can you, like, build snow forts on deck?"

"Well! The lights…are all the same and the firefly moves, and…" Siyana stumbles over her words a moment before she lights up again. "What! No! I mean, not unless you want to bring snow on yourself. Haven't you ever been on a boat?" Gawd, Lavender!

Lavender 's excitement turns into an ear-drooping pout. "Um…Yeah. Technically." She looks back up, "…It was a canoe."

"A…canoe?" Siyana asks skeptically. But she straightens again. "You should go on a proper boat! Come with me, because proper boats are very cool and canoes are lame." And with that she turns tail to skitter clumsily over the ice and onto an easier stretch that reaches down to the beach.

Lavender gets to her feet with excitement! She runs after the zebra (and, once she gets going, seems to have some pretty good balance) and lopes on down the boardwalk beachward. She finishes by planting all her hooves and sliding…two, four, even six feet! Then she hops down onto the cool sand looking very pleased with herself. "I'd really like to see it up close!"

Siyana is scampering clumsily, since she doesn't seem to have much grace or poise, and when Lavender goes skidding like a smooth operator, her mouth drops open and her eyes widen. "…Wow!" she gasps. "That's really cool!!" She seems to forget all about the boat for a long moment, before she shakes herself and looks over to the pier, where the boat is docked and the trading posts are all opened for the holiday. Bright lanterns hang like beacons in the thin fog. "Um! Um… right! Follow me, to the boat." She turns to lope along the sand, bringing her New! Friend!! toward the ship that she calls home.

Lavender grins, "Oooh, foggy…" She tromps through the sand alongside the zebra, kicking up big hoofprints of sand with each step. Although…as they get close she does start to slow a little bit, and look kind of nervous. At least she admires the /heck/ out of the lanterns.

Siyana obliviously races to her boat, then turns and notices that Lavender is not right behind her. She trots back, tossing her mane, and grins. "Those are special from my homeland! The whitelight flowers burn for a very long time, and let off a gas that lets them float like that. I can show you sometime! You can even light one yourself. My dad's the apothecary on the ship. Oh! The ship. You want to see it!" Nomf! She grabs Lavender's ear and starts walking swiftly to the boat.

Lavender shrieks, then makes a face and lets herself be dragged. She goes half-willingly, but half like she's under some strange compulsion to avoid the giant vessel. "That does sound kind of fun…but, aheh, actually, maybe I should go…"

Siyana gets her right up to the base of the gangplank before she lets Lavender go, and she blinks and tilts her head. "Why? Do you have somewhere to be? I'll just give you a quick tour…"

Lavender cringes a bit, looks up the gangplank, glances away, looks up again with a mix of excitement and fear. She peers back towards the boardwalk, towards the town lights…and what do you know, it's foggy! "Eeheehee…Well…What they don't know won't hurt me!" She dashes on up the gangplank ahead of her new friend, excitedly.

Siyana brightens up happily as Lavender jets up the plank, and runs up after her. The ship is quite large, with stairs going up to another deck and down below too, and there appear to be hammocks and tables and all kinds of neat stuff. It's like a gypsy caravan, but on a boat! I suck at describing boats since I've never been on one that wasn't a duffy boat. >.> <.< Or a ferry. "What who won't know?" she asks curiously, forgetting to actually… y'know, tour her friend.

Lavender needs no such tour! She looks up the stairs, then runs the other way, skidding around hammocks and goods and things to run to one end of the boat and lean over to look. Then she runs all the way back, blows past Siyana, and runs on up the stairs! She peeers out along that…long thin wood thing that's always at the ends of boats…and takes a slow step up onto it. >.>

Prow! I think. Right? Yes? No? Boats, man. Siyana giggles and races after Lavender, like it's a fun game of tag! But she doesn't actually, y'know, tag. She just follows happily, because when you're a kid, SO MUCH ENERGY. As Lavender steps onto the prow, Siyana stands by watching, hopping a little so she can go next. Because it would never occur to a seatrader child that another child might not be able to balance.

Lavender aha's! It's the bowsprit, which sounds like something from Homestuck. She goes up with another hoof…then another…then another. Her balance is still kinda shaky, but despite the fact that it's slippery, she somehow manages to turn herself around while balancing on that pole! Wow, she's good at that for a kid without too much practice. She grins with big shiny eyes. "I really like it up here!" She hops down though, to give the zebra a turn too.

Yes! Bowsprit. Which is totally a Homestuck thing. Siyana bounces and watches. "It's really cool! You should come with us when we leave. It gets really lonely here without other kids. I mean, there are a few sometimes but they don't stick around usually." As she yammers, she hops on for her turn and does a cartwheel along the sprit, before having to scramble for balance again. Okay so she may have balance, but she lacks grace. She skitters onto the deck again and grins.

"A pirate!" Siyana gasps. "Pirates are kind of mean… But okay, I can be friends with a pirate. Umm… I dunno where we're going next, but I bet my dad would be okay adopting a pony! Maybe we're headed to the griffon peninsula next. Why are you about to cry?" Herp derp oblivious zebra.

Lavender chews on her lower lip and looks back out to land again. "Because…I don't think my parents would like it…" Yeah, that's the /only/ reason she'd be sad. "I'm not about to cry though. I'm not!" She sticks her tongue out the zebra, "Maybe I /will/ come with you after all! I always wanted to see what it was like where the griffons live…"

Mwai wobbles a little, squinting. Siy, do we have any of that fluffy white stuff that makes me stop wishing I was dead in the morning left?"

"Oh! Sorry! I thought you were. But it's okay, cause we come back here a lot, so you could visit them often! And you can come see the world, cause that's what /all/ ponies should—" Siyana squeaks as she's addressed, snapping suddenly to attention as she regards the older captain. "Sir! Yes! Sir! Um! Sir! I dunno, sir! Um…yes, hold on, actually, I think my dad does, maybe. You guys want to come with? Oh — this is Lavender! She's gonna be a pirate!"

Lavender's eyes go a little wider. Captain Mwai! Her /hero/, well, one of them! She runs up to him. It's uncertain whether he saw her as a bright and shining pupil or an annoying small purple thing, but she has clearly assumed the former for a long time. From a distance. Without talking to him hardly ever. "Captain Mwai can I be a pirate? Huh huh can I, can I?" Because it's totally up to him. She hops in circles around the hung-over pony excitedly, then looks over to Siyana, "Sure I'll come with!"

Mwai valiantly tries to hide the way every time that adorable little voice goes into those adorable little octaves above middle c his head pounds in a way which is in no way adorable. "Um, okay, so two things. First, and far most important, are your parents the sort to come after me with sharp objects when their innocent filly vanishes into the reaches beyond, and second, do you have any idea how boring sea voyages can get?

"It's SO BORING," Siyana gasps emphatically, draping herself across the mast in a rather dramatic fashion. "Which is why I neeeeed a friend along. We can play checkers! And make potions! And learn to swashbuckle! I am very bad at swashbuckling. It's why my dad almost lost an eye." She rolls up to her hooves in embarrassment, but the mention of her dad reminds her: oh yeah! Hangover potion stuff! And she goes shooting down the stairs whether they're with her or not.

Lavender stares at Mwai. He's talking to her! He might actually say yes!! Those eyes slowly widen. Like, aye-aye style eyes. o.o O.O @.@ "Nope! I think they'll be happy I'm gone," she says proudly. "And I have no idea what you could /possibly/ be talking about. I mean, you see ALL kinds of new places, and there's ocean /everywhere/!" She looks back to Siyana, "Oh alicorns, you'd…You'd swashbuckle with me?! Nobody else ever likes it when I point swords at them! We could totally learn together! And be daring swashbuckling heroes!" She follows after Siyana, chasing at high speed, her tail out in a yellow streak behind her.

Mwai sits slowly to the deck and tries to think of a really unpleasant chore that's been put off…

Siyana squeals happily, which is just /so/ kind on Mwai's ears. They rush off, to go pester Siyana's harried father for Mwai's special potion — not not /that/ one, the /other/ one — before the bottle is dropped unceremoniously in front of him with a great clatter. "Here, sir cap'n sir!!"

Lavender was ridiculously curious down belowdecks. Stared at /everything/. So many bottles and bags and barrels and ropes and /things/! And she grinned a huge grin at Siyana's father, that he probably hadn't the slightest clue what it was about (but may have had a vague foreboding). She doesn't let Siyana get away without her though! Once she's back up, she runs and skids past Mwai, looking up at him excitedly. Expectantly? Who knows!

Mwai smiles weakly as the surprisingly foul potion does its work. "Okay, so—" he starts saying to Lavender, who turns out to be the one on the LEFT this time, forcing him to turn, "tell you what. We don't weigh anchor until tomorrow, so if you can clean out the aft mess before then, you can come with us to Skystone, a Griffin port that's a week's sail northwest of here. Get back with us in one piece from that, and not begging to never set FOOT on this ship again, and… well we'll work things out as we come to them.

Siyana's eyes go wide as saucers. "The— the aft mess? Sir, that's just cruel!!" In fact, the little zebra's eyes begin to puddle. Is the captain so very against her having a friend on board???

Lavender 's eyes go all wide again, and that SMILE. "What? I can clean up a little mess!" She jumps up and down. "And it's a whole week at sea? Then a week back? Wow, how long do we stay there?" She starts mentally making a list of things to pack. "And where is that mess anyway?"

Mwai feels a little guilty for enjoying this moment before she actually sees the place. "Aft. The rear of the ship. There's a hatch next to the railing that's been nailed shut…" Mwai rummages through his carry pouch and lobs Lavender a hammer, "You'll need this to pry the nails out, but after that you should be able to get down there. As long as the rats haven't eaten the rope ladder yet."

Lavender catches said hammer in her mouth. (Which sounds awful, but she grabs it by the handle!) Then, she looks to Siyana and gestures hatchward in a 'Come help me!' kind of way. Because surely her new best friend would do just anything to get her on board. Anything. She starts prying out those nails, already feeling like a valued crewmember!

Siyana dances a little on her hooves, as she starts to cry… but after a moment, resolve takes her expression instead and she sniffs, puffing out her chest. "I will help you!" Because EXACTLY. Gotta get her new friend on board. >:| And soon the two rugrats and trying to get that board un nailed.

Mwai follows the pair over to the hatch, just in case something is /alive/ down there…

Lavender pries nails out of that hatch, mouth at the base of the hammer handle for all the leverage she can get. Plink. Plink. They come out and the woebegotten aft hatch creaks. She tugs and pulls and pries at the hatch itself, which is probably not in good shape after all this time…but it eventually opens. Ominously.

Siyana tugs and yanks at the hatch as best she can, before she runs and fetches a prybar to help. She hops up and down on it, trying to get the old wood to open and reveal itself. … Of course, no doubt, a rather horrendous stench is starting to waft up from the narrow opening they've managed.

Lavender wrinkles her nose and backs away from the opening hatch of doom. "It doesn't smell this bad on the ship all the time, does it? Right? I mean it seems like you just oughtta clean it up more often. The stuff you keep down there must be all rotten by now! But if that's what it takes to be a pirate…"

Mwai claps a tincture cloth over his mouth and listens, carefully. Scurrying, good. Whatever's down there isn't creeping around in fear… squeaks… better, not affraid to complain… He leans over and peers into the darkness, and is able to make out the glistening of what arguably could be called a stove, if one were charitable. "YES INDEED," he announces, "This was the kitchen when the Griffins owned the boat! They don't cook with quite the same… ingredients as we equines, I think you'll find. But, a few tubs of lye and plenty of good hard scrubbing and she'll shine up allright, I'd wager."

Zebra the Younger stares down in horror, eyes watering at the stench. "Welp…geronimo, matey!" she calls, and with a quail of OH DEAR GOD, she leaps down into the abyss. It's going to be a very long night.

Mwai makes that "what the hell, kid" face Rainbow Dash made when Scootaloo ran off with her applecore

Lavender sees nothing else to do. She hops on down after her zebra friend! Before she even hits the floor below, she starts wailing horribly about smell. Whumpf. No, not whumpf. Squish. Long night doesn't even /begin/ to describe it. Yes, let's end it there.